2. S E S S I O N 25
Make it Easy to be Good and
Hard to be Bad

3. This is Holy Week! Let us follow Christ to the end.
Then we shall receive the fullness of his merciful
love.

4. The Daily Lenten Program
1. Begin the day with a consecration of the
day and ourselves to Our Lady.
2. Practice Lectio Divina using the
Scriptural passages and starter
meditations provided.
3. Recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet at
some point during the day.
4. Brief examination of conscience at the
end of the day.

5. The Weekly Lenten Program
1. Step: Make it Easy to be Good and Hard
to be Bad
2. Pathway to Excellence
 Receive and offer God‟s mercy.
 Practice a superabundant mercy that
“prevents” someone from sinning.
 Forgive those who persecute you.
3. Sacrifice: the Magnificat of Mary
4. Plan of Life: Select TMiY to be practiced
daily.

6. Christ has made mercy the essential requirement
of the Christian covenant: “Be merciful, even as
your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).

7. The Gift of Confession
“Jesus came and stood among [his
apostles] and said to them: „Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent me,
even so I send you … Receive the Holy
Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven; if you retain the sins
of any, they are retained.”
John 20:19-23

8. The Four Elements of a Good Confession
• Examination of Conscience: “The reception of this
sacrament ought to be prepared for by an
examination of conscience made in light of the Word
of God” (Catechism #1454).
• Contrition: “Contrition is „sorrow of the soul and
detestation for the sin committed, together with the
resolution not to sin again‟” (Catechism #1451).
• Confession: “Confession to a priest is an essential
part of the sacrament” (Catechism #1456).
• Satisfaction … “can consist of prayer, an offering,
works of mercy … and above all the patient
acceptance of the cross we must bear” (Catechism
#1469).

9. The Gift of Peace
• “The confession (or disclosure) of sins,
even from a simply human point of view,
frees us and facilitates our reconciliation
with others” (Catechism #1455).
• For those who receive the sacrament of
Penance with contrite heart and religious
disposition, reconciliation „is usually
followed by peace and serenity of
conscience with strong spiritual
consolation‟” (Catechism #1468).

10. We are called to receive God‟s mercy and we are
called to offer God‟s mercy. However, we must go
further. Our mercy must truly be superabundant.

11. The Superabundant Mercy of God
• “Through the centuries the Church has
become ever more aware that Mary, „full of
grace‟ through God, was redeemed from
the moment of her conception. That is
what the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception confesses” (Catechism #491).
• “I also know that Jesus has forgiven me
more than St. Mary Magdalene since He
forgave me in advance by preventing me
from falling” (St. Therese).
Source: “Story of a Soul – The Autobiography of
St. Therese of Lisieux,” 3rd Edition, Translated by
Clarke, J., ICS Publications, 1996, p. 83.

12. The Superabundant Mercy of God
• “The preventative system consists in making the
laws known and then watching carefully so that
the pupils may at all times be under the vigilant
eye of the Rector, who like loving fathers can …
place the pupils in the impossibility of committing
faults” (St. John Bosco).
• The special tenderness and commitment to
young people that are characteristic of Don
Bosco‟s charism must be expressed in an equal
commitment to the involvement and formation of
families. Your youth ministry, therefore, must be
decisively open to family ministry” (Pope
Benedict XVI).
Source: Lemoyne, G., “The Biographical
Memoirs of St. John Bosco,” v. 4, Salesiana
Publlishers, Inc., 1967, p. 381.
Message to the 26th General Chapter of the
Salesian Congregation, March 31, 2008.

13. Love must be redeemed by love. We are called to
practice a love that goes to the end.

14. The Demands of Love
“I say to you, „Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, so that you may be
sons of our Father who is in heaven, for he
makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward
have you … You, therefore, must be perfect, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:44-48

15. St. Maximillian Kolbe
• 1894 – Born on January 8th in Poland
• 1902: Vision of Our Lady.
• 1910: Enters Franciscans
• 1917: Forms Militia of the Immaculata.
• 1918: Ordained Priest
• 1927: Formed City of the Immaculata.
• 1941: Taken to Auschwitz on May 28th
• 1941: Died on August 14th
• 1971: Beatified by Pope Paul VI
• 1979: Pope John Paul II places “candle of hope” in
his cell.
• 1982: Canonized by Pope John Paul IISource: Frossard, A., “Forget Not Love – The
Passion of Maximillian Kolbe,” Ignatius Press, 1991.

16. The Vision of Our Lady
• Mother demands: “What is to become of you?” to
her boisterous child.
• Raymond is bothered. That night he asks the
Mother of God, “What is to become of me?”
• “Then she came to me holding two crowns, one
white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing
to accept either of these crowns. The white one
meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red
that I should become a martyr. I said that I would
accept them both.”
• Beatified as a “holy man” (white) and canonized as
a martyr (red).Source: Frossard, A., “Forget Not Love – The
Passion of Maximillian Kolbe,” Ignatius Press, 1991.

17. Devotion to Our Lady
• Formed Militia of the Immaculata in 1917.
• Formed City of the Immaculata in 1927 becoming
largest religious house in the world.
• Incredible missionary zeal in her honor.
• Mystical writings on the mystery of Our Lady
(Immaculata).
• St. Maximillian “has appeared in our times as a
prophet and an apostle of a new „Marian era‟…This
mission … „classified him,‟ as Paul VI stated in his
homily at his beatification, „among the great saints
and clairvoyant minds that have understood,
venerated and sung the mystery of Mary‟” (Pope
John Paul II, Dec. 8, 1982).
Source: Frossard, A., “Forget Not Love – The
Passion of Maximillian Kolbe,” Ignatius Press, 1991.

18. “Forget not Love”
• Final arrest by Nazis on Sep. 19, 1941.
• 1st arrest on February 17, 1941.
• Parting words to his brothers: “Do not forget love.”
• Transferred to Auschwitz on May 28, 1941.
• Subjected to “special” humiliations since he was a
Catholic priest.
• Secretly says Mass and hears confessions.
• Gives his food to other prisoners.
Source: Frossard, A., “Forget Not Love – The
Passion of Maximillian Kolbe,” Ignatius Press, 1991.

19. Redeeming Love
• A prisoner (Klos) escapes in July, 1941.
• Ten men are selected to die in his place.
• Francis Gajowniczek cried out, “My wife. My
children.” (Survived war.)
• Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and said: “Take
me.” “Who are you?” “I am a Catholic priest.”
• Taken to Block 13 to be starved to death.
• Leads prisoners in songs and prayer.
• One of four men alive after 4 weeks.
• Offers arm to receive shot of carbolic acid.
• Dies on August 14, 1941.
• Guard: “That was a real man.”
Source: Frossard, A., “Forget Not Love – The
Passion of Maximillian Kolbe,” Ignatius Press, 1991.

20. We have now identified a sure pathway for Step 7.
It is a pathway that demands we go to the end of
love. When we do so, it will transform lives.

21.  Receive God‟s mercy in confession and
offer his mercy to those who ask of it.
 Practice a mercy so superabundant that
it envelops the soul to “prevent” it from
sinning.
 Forgive those who persecute you.
Step 7: Make it Easy to be Good and
Hard to be Bad

22. Christ went to the end of love for us. He revealed
to us the Father, rich in mercy. Let us encounter
him.

23. Encountering the Father, Rich in Mercy
• Receive God‟s mercy in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation (preferably during Holy
Week).
• Ask forgiveness of your wife and children
for the times you have not lived up to your
high calling of husband and father.
• Receive the Eucharist on Easter morning.
• Recite the Consecration to become
Apostles of a New Springtime.
• Celebrate with family and friends.

24. Apostles of a New Springtime
Heavenly Mother, spotless bride of the spotless Lamb, your children stand gathered
together before you. With St. Joseph and the apostle John, we wish to bring you into
our home, so that you may open to us the treasures of your Immaculate Heart.
Reveal to us the hidden face of your Son, present in our midst. Teach us to trust in
the abundance of the Father‟s mercy. Make us docile to the voice of the Spirit
echoing in our depths. Grant that the seeds of grace sown in us would not be lost,
but blossom forth unto life everlasting.
Dawn of Salvation, Star of the New Evangelization, grant that the darkness may not
prevail over the light. Together with Blessed John Paul II, we consecrate ourselves to
you in the mystery of your Immaculate Conception, Totus Tuus. Send us into the
great mission field of the family, so that among all the nations, the praise of God may
resound on the lips of infants and of babes. By the grace of God, in the power of the
Holy Spirit, help us to build a civilization worthy of the human person, created male
and female, created to the image and likeness of the Triune God, who is love. Amen.

25. Small Group Discussion
Next Week
A New Springtime of the Human
Spirit
Starter Questions
1. To which person that has offended you are you
going to offer forgiveness?
2. How are you going to help place those closest to
you in the “impossibility” of sinning?